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25 October, 2006

The aims of the Metro System are to provide an alternative mode of transport to ease congestion, save passengers traveling time, reduce traffic pollution thereby improving environmental quality, improve mobility within the City, provide connection to Dubai International Airport, and deliver modern, comfortable and reliable services to the Metro users. The Dubai Metro is intended to provide transport coverage and reach to all strategic areas of the City, and develop the network to branch out into the suburbs with future extensions.

These are all great objectives. One I really like is "...provide connection to Dubai International Airport." Whenever one visits a new city and discovers there's a train right at the airport to take you into the heart of the city, it adds a whole bunch of plus marks to the rating of that city. It's a great way to start your visit off, and you definitely want to come and visit that city again.

Then there's the reverse when you arrive in a city and the airport is a mess, and the first thing you wonder is "How the hell am I going to get to the city!"

The website looks great. I wonder if there will be connecting bus services from the subway stops and some sort of park & ride at DXB/SHJ border etc - which would truly help with traffic flow? Either way, I think this could really help productivity in Dubai and the UAE and help visitors mentality immensely.

Unlike most American and European cities, I do not believe there is direct train service from Manhattan to JFK or Newark (?) hence given the traffic, woes, it does take away some of the fun for visitors, to this amazing city.

You're right about JFK, unless something has been done since my last visit quite a while back--in 2001. I had to take a bus to the subway station which was nearby. It was the same thing in Los Angeles. In both cases I thought, how dumb is this. The metro lines came within just a couple of kilometers of the airport, thwarting much of the convenience they could have so easily offered.

It's a similar scenario in Mumbai and Chennai as well, it seems--though the station is close enough to walk to. But it's set up in a way that you'd think no one wants you to actually do it.

You are correct BD, then again, LA has no real transit system to speak off - everyone drives almost everywhere.

I remember my first drive to JFK & back, from Manhattan - h-o-l-y, construction galore, potholes the size of baby elephants and yellow cabbies out to run me over!

If it were not for the signage, and guidance of some kind hearted cops, I would’ve been lost in Queens : )

I am still unable to understand, why driving in the UAE is less fun than North America - even though UAE has such amazing highways and road system, well for the most part? Perhaps meat for another blog eh? You know it wasn'tso bad 5 years ago.

I remember in 2000, it took 30 minutes thru rush hour from Etisalat offices in SHJ to DXB Trade center, now my friends tell me it's a day & half : )

New Jersey Transit trains running along the line from Penn Station in Manhattan to Trenton, NJ stop at Newark Airport, but that is a fairly recent development (last 5 years or so.)

JFK now has the AirTrain, a train service that connects to all of the terminals and runs to the Howard Beach subway station, where you can get the A-Train, or to the Jamaica LIRR station. (This is also a very recent development.)

The worst thing about taking the A-Train is that it is a local through Brooklyn and Queens, which means it makes about 25 stops before you get to Manhattan.

The worst ground transportation in NYC is from LaGuardia Airport, which, for some bizaare reason, is pretty much in the middle of the city but miles from a subway station. The city has been trying to bring the subway to the airport for years, but special interests are always able to defeat it.

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